mmm-yoso – Page 317 – As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! A San Diego based food and travel blog. An Ex-Pat Kama'aina and Friends explore food, restaurants, and travel from San Diego and points beyond.

Tower 13-Cardiff Beach Bar (Cardiff by the Sea)

October 9, 2014 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for dropping by to read the food blog named mmm-yoso!!! Today, Kirk is Far East, Ed (from Yuma) is East and Cathy has ventured to the NorthWest part of the County.

Football Saturday means college games, not professional football. If it's a noon game on the East Coast, the game starts at 9 a.m. here. The University of Michigan (currently #14 in the Big Ten) Alumnae have two meeting places in San Diego County, and Tower 13 is one of them. {The website logo shows "Cardiff Beach Bar @Tower 13", but 'Tower 13' is the name used by locals.} Across the street is Cardiff Beach…and that's the Pacific Ocean -with many surfers in the water waiting for a wave- on an overcast Saturday before 9 a.m. not long ago.Many televisions are inside this Bar, along with a tremendous variety of adult beverages to choose from. On the counter, you may notice a large dispenser with artfully displayed pineapples; that is one of the flavor infused vodkas sold here. Both college and professional football games are streamed from Thursday until Sunday every week. This was a morning game and we were given the Brunch menu, which is usually only available on Sunday. Above, the Baja Bennie ($10.95). Excellent smoky flavored Black Forest ham, avocado, poached egg topped with a nicely spicy Hollandaise sauce on a toasted English muffin, served with Home Fried potatoes, this was tasty and filling. The Breakfast Sandwich ($8.95) had to be ordered, since that is my default breakfast item. This version, on a toasted Brioche bun included ham, bacon and cheese as well as egg and was accompanied by the same herby topped Home Fries. Very good, very large, nice.

Oddly, we were still winning this game and stayed to watch until the end. Since it was lunch time, we ordered this Bowl of Chili ($7). This photo is deceptive; this is a very deep bowl and enough to share. The chili was meaty, and did have beans, onion, tomato, fresh chilis and a great spice blend. It's made daily from scratch, topped with the swirls of a sort of chili and a tomatillo crema and is really good and right on the edge of 'needing to order beer' spicy.

The lunch menu is quite good and varied here, with appetizers, salads, pizzas, tacos, sandwiches, burgers, many smaller ''extras" plates that can be shared to make or round out a meal. A good place to stop, even if there are no football games on television.

Tower 13 2633 S. Coast Highway 101 Cardiff by the Sea, CA 92007 Website Hours: Mon/Tues: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Wed: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Thurs: 11 a.m.-midnight Fri: 11-1 a.m Sat: 9 a.m.-1 a.m. Sun: 9 a.m.-9 p.m.

Junction Steakhouse and SportsBar – Breakfast (El Cajon)

October 8, 2014 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

Here we are, at mmm-yoso!!! reading a blogging about food. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are not writing today because each of them has something far more interesting and important to do, dealing with timetables and appointments. Cathy's schedule is essentially free, so she's blogging.

Truth be told, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Enjoying the dark coolness of the morning and seeing the sun rise while getting chores done has been my routine for years. Always on the lookout for local places which open early is habit. Back in February, my post about Junction was about the 1/2 pound burger lunch special as well as about the market next door, which has the same owner. I did have a photo of the above poster in that blog post and am finally following up. The breakfast omelette special ($5.99) is made up of three eggs and any four ingredients you choose. It comes with hash browns and toast. As you can see, the ingredients chosen were cheddar cheese, red pepper, mushrooms and diced sausage. This is a lot of food. The regular (weekend or after 10 a.m. weekday) price of this omelette is $9.45. Another breakfast choice we enjoy from here are the sweet potato pancakes and eggs (5.95). Poached is always my preference and the chef here is good at poaching. The butter that accompanies the pancakes is a vanilla-cinnamon blend and quite complimentary in a non-pumpkin spice way.

Coffee is always a part of breakfast ($2.95). Even though there is a Starbucks on the other end of this mall, I wouldn't ever bring my own cup into a nice sit down restaurant. We usually shop at Harvest Ranch Market after breakfast and then stop at the Starbucks before the next stop on morning errands.

The week is half over- two more days until the weekend!

Junction Steakhouse and Sports Bar 777 Jamacha Road El Cajon, 92019 (619) 588-5467 Website

Volare Italian Dining Family Restaurant (Loma Portal)

October 7, 2014 Cathy Italian Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping at mmm-yoso!!! and reading about food. Right now, Kirk is enjoying life with His Missus, Ed (from Yuma) and Tina are treasuring moments together and Cathy and her Mister are sharing a memory with you.

If you live in San Diego, you've seen it in passing. Perhaps when exiting the PCH going toward Liberty Station/Point Loma/Rosecrans. Note the second floor- the family owns and lives in this building. Maybe when heading South toward downtown/the 5, this signage on the other side of the building made you mildly curious. It doesn't look fancy, seems to have always been there…Walk in and take a step back into time. That newspaper article is dated May 1979 and it's about this 'new' Restaurant which had opened in 1978, run by two brothers and a sister. The brothers moved back to Sicily in 1998 and the sister and her family have been running Volare ever since.The interior decor is dark, music from the soundtrack of the movie The Godfather is subtly playing in the background…nice and clean. Tablecloths, as always. Nothing fancy: just good.

Yes, those whiteboard specials are inexpensive. If you arrive here around opening (11 p.m. M-F) the entire restaurant will be filled with employees and their visitors from the nearby SPAWAR building as well as people from other offices and nearby businesses waiting for a seat. The 'locals' start arriving around 1 p.m. as the lunch crowd is leaving. Evenings/weekends can be similarly crowded. Know that the kitchen makes each item to order, not much is pre-made. If you are very hungry, order an antipasto or salad to munch on while waiting for your food to be prepared.The antipasto ($4.50, small; large is $5.95). A mild and a spicy salami, cheese, two types of olives, marinated celery and carrots and the usual lettuce/onion/tomato are topped with a balsamic. This (and almost everything here) is accompanied by fresh/warm bread.This day had me craving the 'cazzerola' ($5.95) from the white board at the door (especially since I read starting at the bottom)-both lasagna and eggplant baked casserole style (I enjoy every type of baked pasta when given a choice). You can see in the cross section that the items were stacked. Excellent flavors of each item separately, crispy eggplant, the sauce, the cheese. Seriously good.This was a Friday meal and The Mister ordered from the lunch menu (Click onto the small photo at the bottom of this post). This is a 'small' Cioppino ($7). Sicilian style, served on top of fresh cooked al dente noodles, the seafood selection cooked in a slightly spicy garlicy tomato sauce was perfect. Yes, you see mussels, shrimp, scallops, squid rings and baby squid.

This truly is a great 'old school' place with great food. We've had other meals here and I'll be sharing more menu items…know all the food is good and not fast food at all, no matter the time of day.

Volare Italian Family Restaurant 3528 Barnett (between Midway and Jessop Lane)San Diego 92110 (619)224-0030 Open M-F 11-10, Sat-Sun 4-10

Noticing that I tend to blog about places no other food blogger has reported on, I was so happy to find this post from Mary 2008 and notice that Dennis had this on his menu blog in 2009, which means he's also been here.

Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant (revisit)(City Heights)

October 6, 2014 Cathy Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, a blog about food and sometimes interspersed with other stories. This isn't anything about another story, it's just about food. Kirk is taking a breather, Ed(from Yuma) is putting his feet up and Cathy is at the computer, settling back and sharing a meal while taking a Continuing Education class online.

This summer had some hot and humid days when eating out *any*where with air conditioning was the only criterion. In August, while being seated at Pho Pasteur Anh Hong, I noted a salad on another table, asked our waiter what it was and ordered it: Lemon Beef. I *really* liked that version and decided to try 'Lemon Beef Salad' at each Vietnamese Restaurant this summer.Saigon Restaurant has been located on El Cajon Boulevard, across from Hoover High School, for about ten years now. Here is a link to Kirk's 2006 visit. Here is a link to one of my visits. That building on the next corner with the 1950's architecture overhanging what looks to be a parking lot is a drive through Dry Cleaners, one of few left in the city.

The interior of Saigon is simple and unchanged for all these years. There are about 12 eight-person round tables as well as another 30 or so square four person tables; quite large inside. There are also two televisions (which aren't always turned on) and a gigantic (five feet tall by eight feet long by three feet wide) fish tank filled with Koi. Why I was here- the lemon beef salad (Bo Than Chanh) ($10.90). You can see pieces of pale colored (i.e freshly cooked by lemon juice) thin sliced beef along with various sliced vegetables (carrot, cucumber, daikon radish, onion) and no lettuce. The flavors were reminiscent of Kirk's Thai Beef Salad without any chilis or heat. The beef reminded The Mister of unseasoned larb. I tried various combinations of condiments from the tabletop tray, but it wasn't quite right, as far as heat goes- the beef seemed 'plain'. Everything was fresh and 'sparkling' with flavor, but overall, it lacked something. Another reason I was here- the Nem Nuong ($5.50). I still haven't posted about it, but after two trips to Brodard, I have been on a search for Summer rolls as fresh and good as are made there. The Nem Nuong here are very good- the beef has flavor, the lettuce fresh and crispy but far too many rice noodles and not enough of other vegetables. On the plus side, these were tightly wrapped.

The Mister ordered beef stew (Bo Kho) ($9) and this tasted really great; nice spices within the 'gravy' and many soft tendon pieces. It was fresh and satisfying.

Hope the week ahead is good for you!

Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant 4455 El Cajon Boulevard San Diego 92115 (619)284-4215 Open Sun-Th 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri-Sat 9a.m.-11 p.m.

The Barbecue Pit (El Cajon)

October 5, 2014 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, BBQ, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a blog where you can enjoy a brief respite from the humdrum of your home or office or computer. Kirk is on a sojourn, Ed (from Yuma) is roosting (in Yuma) and Cathy is lingering at various places around the county.

Another meal enjoyed during our quest to go to restaurants as old or older than us led us close to home, on Fletcher Parkway in El Cajon. Family owned since 1947, the Barbecue Pit has a fascinating history having had more than 12 locations around the County, but currently only two remain. Kirk posted on a former location, which is now owned by a former employee and has maintained the same menu, way of preparing the meat, interior decor and legacy of long time neighborhood patrons. The location I'm writing of is basically kitty corner from Beef 'n Bun.

This is not a smokey flavored barbecue: it is a pit barbecue method of preparation, using an above ground sealed pit/oven with (oak) wood heat that basically cooks 'slow and low'(air quality concerns), the same as many different barbacoa, and mixed use barbacoa style Mexican barbacoa de Borrego restaurants around town.When you walk in, you are greeted by a specials board and you walk forward to order (the regular menu is on the wall above the ordering area and can be seen here.)You can see the sandwich buns being toasted, beef and pork under the heat lamp waiting to be sliced and warming area for other meats, along with the ubiquitous plastic and divided plates next to the stack of cafeteria trays.Probably the most fascinating aspect of this old style eatery is the condiment bar, which you can use to fulfill your most craveable personalizations.The interior is neat, clean, simply decorated with a small area of memorabilia above the refrigerated cream pie selection. (See the menu on the wall above to the right?)Our simple meal consisted of the specials noted on the white board as we walked in; one as a meal with two sides (bbq'd/smokey tasty baked beans and coleslaw)(both excellent) ($8.49) as well the sandwich with a bowl of the daily made pea soup (made with leftover ham, which is always great here)($5.49) and a slice of coconut cream pie (99¢).

The pulled pork/chopped beef is mixed with the house made sauce, which is a bit sweet with some tang and has clove as part of the multiple spices. To balance the flavor to my preference, I utilize the condiment bar and put pickles and onions on the sandwich. About halfway through, I also add slaw to the sandwich so the second half is a bit different flavored than the first.

All in all, another comforting meal.

The Barbeque Pit 2388 Fletcher Parkway El Cajon 92020 (619) 462-5434 Open M-Sat 10:30a.m.-9 p.m. Website

Aqui Es Texcoco (Revisit) (Chula Vista)

October 4, 2014 Cathy Mexican Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Here you are again, at mmm-yoso!!!, a blog about food. Once again, Kirk is soaring while Ed (from Yuma) is hovering and Cathy is drifting around the county, writing another post about another meal.

One morning I woke up craving anything but a 'normal' breakfast. I knew what I wanted and that at 8 a.m. my cravings could be satisfied. Heading South on the 805, going against traffic, was a breeze. My other post about visits here noted that there was a line out the door by 10 a.m.; the above photo shows people filling out the wait list around 9:15 a.m., when we were leaving. [This outpost of a long time (since 1990) Tijuana based restaurant opened in Chula Vista in 2008, when mmm-yoso!!! guest poster, Miz Ducky wrote about it. CC had introduced me to Aqui es Texcoco. Another U.S based location opened in July in City of Commerce.]After ordering, a freshly made, refreshingly tasty not too sweet Jamaica drink ($2.25) was brought to the table, along with the side order of refried beans ($3.25) we requested. Each order came with a medium size cup of consomme; a lamb broth made with lamb drippings and garbanzo beans; savory but not gamey in flavor. Order of 1/2 pound lamb barbacoa ($9.50), the pit roasted meat came with the aforementioned consomme as well as many corn tortillas and was accompanied by the above herb, papalo, instead of cilantro. The flavor of papalo is amazing: sort of a minty cilantro. {It was a quite strong flavor that at first I used sparingly, to not detract from the flavorful interspersed charred and gelled bits of lamb, which I crave.} I found this herb for sale at Northgate Gonzalez Market and look for it at other Mexican markets when shopping: it's something new to me. The Mister has wanted to try the mixiotes here and he chose the rabbit version ($12.50)The rabbit stew, which is almost a chili after all the baking in parchment with chilis, herbs and spices as well as a chunk of agave leaf (which you don't/can't eat) was moist and tender and just so flavorful. Since we were here anyhow, we also ordered a squash blossom quesataco as a side ($3.25) which was wonderful; crispy, cheesy, a bit crunchy from the burned cheese and just nice. (It also was not blurry in person. Sorry.)Finally, we also ordered flan ($3) for dessert. This isn't like any flan you've had before, unless you've had it in Mexico. Thick and viscous custard, made with subtle vanilla with a caramel soaked top in puddle of flavor. Just a perfect ending.

Aqui Es Texcoco 1043 Broadway, Suite 108, Chula Vista 91911 (619)427-4045 Website open 8a.m.-9 p.m. daily

P.L. Bagels (revisit) (Point Loma)

October 3, 2014 Cathy Bakery, Breakfast/Brunch, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for finding mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog, during your internet travels. Kirk is very busy, Ed (from Yuma) is really busy Cathy isn't too busy, so she's writing.

As I was beginning to write this post, noticing the other posts written about P.L. Bagels were also from October must mean it's just the time of year I get around to writing about a fairly regular weekend stop.Open at 6a.m. daily, P.L. Bagels is located at the corner of Voltaire at Palermo, just a block West of Point Loma High School. In a small, tight parking lot for the various businesses – a Donut Shop, Taco Shop, Pet Food store and Pizza Place- it's been there since at least the mid 90's, originally opened by a New Yorker, who wanted to bring 'proper' bagel making techniques and flavors to San Diego, eventually sold to a very nice family (who are the only ones working here) maintaining those recipes.The store opens at 6 a.m. daily and closes around 1 p.m., unless they run out of their daily made products sooner.The egg and cheese bagel with coffee is $3.99. This 'everything' bagel is a usual choice when unable to decide. The second photo shows both the top and bottom of the bagel- another thing I like about the bagels here- coated and not just topped with the toppings.

Saturday and Sunday are the days when bialy are made and sold. A rare, baked and not boiled first item only sometimes found in bagel shops, bialy here have the small indentation filled with cooked onion. You can see the texture is a bit more 'bubbled' and lighter than a bagel, and the bottom is has a fine rice powder coating. I prefer mine simply toasted and with butter ($1.25).Our habit, following the light breakfast, is to drive to the Point, stopping at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery for our daily walk with a view while paying respect.

P.L. Bagel 3704 Voltaire Street, Suite 107 San Diego 92107 (619) 223-4788 open daily 6a.m.-1 p.m.

Pieology (customized Pizza)

October 2, 2014 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Pizza, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for dropping by to read the blog, mmm-yoso!!! Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are both busy picking things up while Cathy is holding down the fort.

There seems to have been an inordinate amount of 'customized pizza' places popping up around Southern California within the past twelve months. I've only posted about one such business but have been to many iterations and here's a post about another using a similar business model. Perhaps you are wondering about the first San Diego location of 85C- it's on the far right of the above photo, right next door to Pieology on Balboa at Genessee.Neat, clean, industrial looking with the current decorating trend of communal tables in the center of the seating area, the drill is the same: order, watch your pies being customized while following them along the line…Watch your personalized dough being placed into a wood fired oven…Choose a beverage or salad and pay, have a seat and your order will be brought out to you. This is a large salad ($7.95) with chicken, Gorgonzola, local organic greens, candied walnuts and dried cranberries. It's very fresh and very good. These are the "herb butter strips" ($2.95)…the fresh dough topped with butter and olive oil and fresh herbs, baked just right-almost crispy yet still chewy. Unfortunately for you reading this (and all of these pop up 'customized' pizza places), The Mister and I are traditionalists and pretty much don't 'customize' and instead order basic items from the menu, in the case of Pieology, it's an order from the "Pizza Lab". Above, the Number 1: Classic cheese pie ($6). Olive oil, Mozzarella and red sauce. Quite nice, with a tasty crust, balance of flavors and simplicity that is difficult to properly achieve.Another day we ordered the Pizza Lab Number 2 item ($7.95): a pepperoni, sausage, meatball, Mozzarella, olive oil and red sauce pie…but (here's the where we went all crazy part) we also asked for mushrooms. This pie was excellent. There is no additional charge; most customized pies are $7.95; know that multiple items are distributed modestly which helps the pie crust bake in three minutes or less.

All in all, three very nice meals here. An interesting concept. We've now been to seven similar concept places and are thinking the $8 price point leads to a good ROI for each business. Other blogging viewpoints of Pieology: Here, here and here. Here too.

Pieology 5575 Balboa Avenue Suite 310 San Diego 92111 (858) 565-0600 (there two other San Diego locations) Website

Tip Top Meats- German Grocery, German Restaurant (revisit)

October 1, 2014 Cathy German Restaurants and Food, Markets & Grocers, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy write about food they ate and the circumstances surrounding the meal(s). Today, Cathy is writing.

The Mister and I had Friday birthdays this year and for our eight days of celebrating tried to choose restaurants that were (ideally) as old or older than us; it seems this is almost impossible given our age, but Connal's came close. This is another birthday week meal. (My other posts about Tip Top were also birthday meals, plus Vicky wrote a post about Tip Top in 2007).

Tip Top Meats opened in 1967, in Glendale, as a meat store with a small restaurant inside (as many ethnic grocery stores still have within their doors). The owner, "Big John" Haedrich, a Master Craftsman Butcher and Sausage maker, finally moved to Carlsbad in 1977, keeping the same business model. Walk in and to the left among the grocery aisles. There's a menu above (and more menu on the other side of that ceiling closer to the cash register). You order and pay before retrieving your own beverages and finding a table. Your food is brought out to you. We sat across from the cash register, around the corner of the seating area; there has been some remodeling and there is covered outdoor seating as well. This is a sausage sandwich($8.99). I had a choice of Polish, bratwurst or knackwurst and, of course, chose smoked Polish sausage. It came with a roll, but I asked for rye bread. I was asked if lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise was OK and said 'yes' and those were placed onto the bread for me…the side of German potato salad was excellent (I could have had fries…but why). Here's a close up of the spices and flavorings in the smoked sausage. It is excellent. The Mister ordered a "Steak -N-Stein". There is a choice of a 14-16 oz sirloin, 8-10 oz filet mignon or 12-14 oz New York steak, along with a choice of soup or salad (this is oxtail soup, which tasted like a wonderful gravy) and choice of frosty tap beer (He chose Tangerine Wheat).The Mister chose the sirloin, cooked medium rare. This also comes with a choice of potato, vegetable or kraut or red cabbage (you can see he chose half kraut, half red cabbage) and a roll. I think this was more than 16 ounces. It was wonderful, worth the price ($12.98). (The filet mignon or New York Steak are $14.98)
After our hearty meal, we perused the grocery and meat cases, choosing future meals, snacks and condiments.
The headcheese selection is amazing. The butcher meat case, smoked meat selection as well as frozen meat items made choices almost overwhelming. There were also beers, wines, aisles of candies and fresh pastries near the door which also tempted us. A great day in North County.

Tip Top Meats 6118 Paseo Norte Carlsbad, CA 92011 (760)438-2620 Open seven days 6 am-8 pm Website

Nolbu Mini Gastropub

September 30, 2014 mmm-yoso Beer, Chicken Wings, Gastropub, Korean Restaurants, Pubs and Pub Grub

**** Nolbu has closed and is now Yummy House

Well, since we did Common Theory yesterday. I guess Nolbu deserves equal time, right?

Hidden behind the Convoy institution that is Chopstix, this tiny little place is easy to miss. I'm really not the Min Sok Chon, Thang Thang, soju bomb kind of guy, but I got a few recommendations from folks I knew. Though I still had reservations because when I quizzed these folks on the food, the standard answer usually included big portions, and not remembering much because they were…shall we say…..taste deadened and mush minded from overindulging a bit?

It is a pretty small and somewhat cozy kind of place. There are only 5 beers on tap. The main drink of choice for most of the young people who go here are the flavors of soju…."white gummy bear"???

The bartender/server on both of my visits was a very nice and friendly young woman named Nancy…very calm, very chill.

The menu is full of what I call "Kogi-truckish" dishes…you know, bulgogi tacos, bulgogi quesadillas, bulgogi fries, stuff that's already kind of passe'

The dining area is set-up like one of those faux outdoor porch type of restaurants. A acquaintance of mine actually knew the Korean name of that style of set-up….but you know; old age and all that. I just can't seem to remember the term right now.

There's actually one reason I came to Nolbu…the Korean Spicy Wings ($8.99). Almost everyone I spoke to mentioned these wings, though none could not really tell me much about the flavor.

The wings are quite large, the flavor as you can imagine is based on kochujang and almost tastes like my Spicy Misoyaki without as much bean paste. It is indeed a basic sweet chili sauce…sticky, more sweet than spicy, perhaps in need of a bit more complexity. maybe a bit more sour/tart, or savory-garlic tones. The batter was nice at first, perhaps a bit too thick, but still crunchy, but it got really gummy in minutes. Not terrible….but definitely not… Kyochon by any stretch. In fact, this eerily reminded me of the stuff they used to serve at BBQ Chicken, though not nearly as crunchy.

I also decided to try the mandu ("Dumplings" on the menu – $6.99).

These weren't very good in my opinion, too much cabbage filler, the sauce also tasted watered down. The wrapper were decent, but I'd take a pass on these next time.

Overall, not bad and as always I thought a return visit should be done.

One funny thing; when I was waiting for my drink a guy walked in laden with bags….shopping for supplies I'd guess. All the plastic bags were from Zion Market! I guess that's where they do their shopping? I really think stuff like that should be done via the rear entrance.

This time I came with my friends YummyYummy and Candice. We had the spicy wings again, which were a bit better this time…less sickly sweet and the texture held up a bit better.

We also had the haemul pajeon – the seafood pancake ($12.99), a bit small for the price.

But with a pretty generous amount of well…..Zion Seafood probably….. I will say that in terms of texture it was less gummy and a bit lighter than what I'd had at Common Theory, though it was 2/3 the size.

I also wanted to try the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($8.99).

A bit light in flavor, these wings swere pretty straight-forward…basically naked, without a coating, but not bad….I'd have these again, as these were nicely fried.

The same five beers on tap; my favorite being the Stone Arbalest since I do enjoy tripels, quads, and Belgian strongs. this one was pretty good, light citrus-woody flavor with a mildly boozy-hoppy finish.

While waiting for my friends to meet me, the same young man walked in ladened with plastic bags….again from Zion Market.

Anyway, in terms of food, this place serves up a more Asian flavor than Common Theory. I was surprised that the food wasn't as salty as, say Min Sok Chon. They do have a decent bottle collection, but only five draft beers and the temps on my second visit seemed a bit off. As much as I like the folks working here, there's really no working knowledge of the beer they're serving…it's more of soju service. As in the version of an umbrella drink - soju served up in a half watermelon.

That said; I might drop in again for some wings and a beer…..if I feel like eating groceries from Zion….

Nolbu Mini Gastropub
4633 Convoy St. Suite 102
San Diego, CA 92111